- Five to Thrive
- Posts
- #168 – AI Policy & US Passports
#168 – AI Policy & US Passports
Quote, Podcast, Framework, Observation, X.
Dimitri Gremos
September 02, 2026
Good morning everyone,
Hope you’re having a great week!
Welcome to the September edition of Five to Thrive.
Here are 5 things to make your morning a little more interesting.
Let’s jump in.
read online on my website
read time 5 minutes
#168 – The Rundown:
Quote: Be great now.
Podcast: Mark Bouris x Mark Webber.
Framework: The AI writing policy every company needs.
Observation: The American consumer has gone global.
X: Gen Z is long sports betting.
Quote:
Be Great Now
“Do not merely think that you are going to become great; think that you are great now.
Do not think that you will begin to act in a great way at some future time; begin now.
Do not think that you will act in a great way when you reach a different environment; act in a great way where you are now.
Do not think you will begin to act in a great way when you begin to deal with great things; begin to deal in a great way with small things.”
Reminder: wherever you are, whatever stage of life you’re at, this is it.
Make the most of it.
Be Great Now.
{h/t James Clear}
Podcast:
Straight Talk with Mark Bouris: Mark Webber
Mark Webber is an Australian legend.
As 1 of only 5 Aussies to have won a Formula 1 Grand Prix and a 9-time race winner, he sits in a unique category of Australian sportspeople who have grinded their way to the pinnacle of Euro-centric competition.
In this episode, Mark traces his journey from being a ball boy for the Canberra Raiders growing up in Queanbeyan to holding up that 1st-place trophy on the storied Monaco podium... twice.
One of the things I took away from the conversation was how Mark described the way time tends to slow down when you’re in the flow state:
“At the Formula One level, the mind management with the RAM, if the RAM is full, your situation of consistently making the right decisions is going to struggle.
And the eyes are critical, of course. And you make a good point about peripheral vision, peripheral vision is huge in sport and it’s huge in our sport as well, because your eyes are scanning and at the speed we’re going, if it’s coming at you super, super slow, in everything, even on a qualifying lap, which is us against the track. The ultimate test of speed is us in qualifying. So, you go out and you have to be able to drive the car on the absolute limit and in the best days of my racing career, that is coming at you very slowly.
When you’re performing brilliantly, it’s coming at you very, very slowly, and you’re ahead. You’re just so far ahead of what’s happening.
And you’re so present. You’re so present. There’s no baggage on what’s happened, there’s no baggage ahead, it’s just, like, you’re here, you are here, you are so with the car. That’s the big secret sauce.”
And that is just as true for exceptional athletes as it is with any high performer.
They walk to the beat of their own drum and time slows down around them.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.
[Duration: 1 hour 26 minutes]
P.S. I made a Spotify playlist with every podcast I’ve ever recommended. I hope they bring you as much value as they’ve brought me.
Framework:
The AI Writing Policy Every Company Needs
Lately, a lot of my conversations and reflections on AI have circled around a few different versions of the same question: how do students and workers harness the productivity gains without losing genuine, thoughtful development?
I think sales software company Clay has nailed this in their AI writing policy, which went viral on LinkedIn a few weeks back.
Here are the 4 guiding principles and I’ve included the entire write-up below for those that are interested.
1) You must stand behind every idea and sentence
It is your responsibility to make sure that the entire document is representative of your own thoughts before you share it.
2) Writing is thinking
Spending time on the writing process teaches you more about your topic. If you circumvent this process, you will walk away with a poorer understanding of the subject matter.
3) More time should be spent writing a document than consuming it
If you generate a document from a short prompt then ask your readers to go through the longer output, you are disrespecting their time. They can talk to ChatGPT themselves if they want to.
4) Longer is not better
AI makes it easy to generate long docs, and it loves padding them with sentences that say nothing. If you're producing docs from a short prompt, consider just sharing the prompt.
Is there anything you would add/remove?
{h/t Daniel Mircevski}
Observation:
The American Consumer Has Gone Global
Americans made a record 24 million trips to Europe in 2025, more than double a decade ago.
In 1990, fewer than 5% of Americans had a passport. Today, more than 50% do.
The American consumer has gone global.
{h/t Charlie Bilello}
X:
Gen Z is Long Sports Betting
“A quarter of [Gen Z] treat sports betting as a deliberate part of their long-term financial plan.”
And if those are the stats in the US, imagine the sentiment amongst young Australians where gambling losses per capita are twice as high as those in America.
Could we one day see financial advisory firms offering specialised sports betting consulting to cater for Gen Z in the midst of the ‘generational wealth transfer’?
{h/t Letter of Intent}
Thanks for reading! Grateful for your support.
In case you missed it, last month’s newsletter covered 5 pieces of advice for people leaving uni, football’s next powerhouse in Lake Como, where billionaires come from & more.
If you enjoyed this edition, it would mean the world if you could forward it to a friend or send them my website.
This goes a long way to helping me reach more people :)
See you in October,
Dimi